Factors influencing the post-exercise hepcidin-25 response in elite athletes

Hepcidin-25 levels increased by 7.5-fold after a 25-km race-walk trial.

• Interleukin-6 levels also rose significantly by 7.6-fold following the race-walk.
• There were significant individual relationships between 3-hour post-exercise hepcidin-25 and baseline serum ferritin and serum iron (r > 0.62; p < 0.05).
• Baseline serum ferritin and serum iron, along with post-exercise IL-6 levels and race-walk time, explained approximately 77% of the variance in hepcidin-25 levels at 3 hours post-exercise (p < 0.01).
• A comparison based on baseline serum ferritin revealed that individuals with lower ferritin had significantly lower hepcidin-25 levels (6.0 nM) compared to those with higher ferritin (11.3 nM; p = 0.01).
• No significant differences were found in baseline serum iron, post-exercise IL-6, or race-walk time among the different ferritin groups (all p > 0.05).

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